Turning an old farmhouse into an energy-efficient home
When Therisa Shams el-Din Rogers (Shams) and her husband, Michael, bought their home in northern Vermont, they knew it needed a lot of work. They fell in love with the 1850s farmhouse for all the typical reasons: the charm, the peace and quiet, the nearby community. It also had two ponds and a creek, which allowed Michael, who is blind, to listen to the sounds of nature in his backyard. It was the perfect house.
Shams describes Vermont as a "bastion of un-fancy living." Her vision for the house was simple: She wanted it to be a cozy place to return to at the end of the day, and for the house to have a light environmental footprint. She didn't need it to look like a magazine.
Shams didn't waste time getting to work on the old, leaky home. Within a week of buying the house, Shams scheduled an energy audit with Montpelier Construction, one of Efficiency Vermont's Efficiency Excellence Network (EEN) contractors. The auditor identified a laundry list of opportunities for buttoning up the building and reducing energy use. The suggestions ranged from small, relatively low-cost fixes—like sealing off spaces that were directly open to the outdoors—to bigger projects like insulating the attic and replacing the water heater.
"Everything on the list...we did it all," Shams says.
Shams started with the projects that would have the most impact on her home's comfort and energy use.
The first order of business was a new range hood in the kitchen. "If you stuck your head up in it, you could see the light from the outside," Shams says. Cold air was pouring into the house through that hole. She installed a new range hood with a flap to keep out the exterior air.
Next came insulation. It wasn't just cold air getting in the house: There were critters, too. At one point, Shams saw a vole in the kitchen. One often-overlooked advantage of air sealing is that it keeps small pests out. A contractor added insulation in the basement and attic spaces, and Shams took advantage of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR rebate from Efficiency Vermont to help cover the cost. The windows and doors were another big source of heat loss. Shams decided to replace those in two rounds to spread the cost over two years.
The 1850s farmhouse has an oil furnace that was installed in the 1990s. "If you wanted hot water, even in the summer, the whole burner had to turn on," Shams says. She installed a heat pump water heater, which operates independently of the furnace and is significantly cheaper to run.
When the couple purchased the home, there was a hodgepodge of kitchen appliances, some of which were nonfunctional. "There was an indoor grill, which we didn't really understand," Shams says. She installed energy-efficient appliances, including an electric cooktop. Shams is hopeful that in the future, there will be more rebates for ENERGY STAR appliances conducive to people with visual impairments like Michael.
Throughout these projects, Shams consulted Efficiency Vermont for advice and took advantage of rebates for homeowners. "Efficiency Vermont is here for all of us," she says. "To help us get information, to help us make decisions, and to encourage us to make decisions that, in most cases, are better for the planet."
“Efficiency Vermont is here for all of us. To help us get information, to help us make decisions, and to encourage us to make decisions that, in most cases, are better for the planet.”
Shams says her home is much more comfortable now than it was when she bought it. But she isn’t finished with all her efficiency projects yet.
Next year, she'll install the second round of windows and doors. She’s considering what to do about the furnace, which is more than 30 years old. She's looking forward to saving money on her energy bills, especially thanks to the new water heater and insulation throughout the house.
By tackling these major energy efficiency improvements over time, this home will be more comfortable and sustainable for Shams and her husband, and for generations to come. Shams envisions a future where more people can take advantage of energy efficiency programs. At scale, she says, we can create more sustainable communities that support Vermonters for years to come, even after each one of us is gone.
